George Glezmann spent 835 days as a Taliban hostage, most of them in an underground cell in Kabul with the lights on around the clock. A Delta Air Lines aircraft mechanic with degrees in engineering and anthropology and 135 countries behind him, he walked into Afghanistan in December 2022 with a valid visa and a camera. By nightfall he was on a floor with a gun at his temple, accused of being CIA, listening to what his interrogator said was the sound of his own gallows being built. Jenny Beth Martin hears the story from him. The Taliban denied holding him for months while his wife did not know if he was alive. A year passed before anyone from the U.S. government called. Two other Americans in the same safe house went home on the last day of the Biden administration while he stayed behind, and then his wife got a call from Jake Sullivan that ended with the words good luck. Within two months of President Trump taking office, he was on an unmarked Airbus out of Kabul, and not a dollar changed hands. George Taylor, a retired military and federal law enforcement counterterrorism officer and Glezmann's colleague in Delta's corporate security group, sat in the Biden White House meetings beside Glezmann's wife. He says no one was in charge, that Georgia's senators earned an F, and that a senior White House lawyer promised to retrieve Glezmann's body if he did not survive. Learn more at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.
Guest: George Glezmann is an aircraft mechanic with Delta Air Lines who has worked in aviation for more than forty years and holds degrees in engineering and anthropology. A photographer and solo traveler who has visited about 135 countries, he entered Afghanistan on a valid visa in December 2022 and was seized by the Taliban on his first afternoon in Kabul. He was held for 835 days, most of it in an underground cell, and was freed in the first weeks of the Trump administration. He has since returned to work at Delta.
Guest: George Taylor is retired from the military and from federal law enforcement, where his background was counterterrorism, after forty-seven years of government service by his own count. He worked with George Glezmann in Delta's corporate security group and, once Glezmann went missing, worked alongside Glezmann's wife through the White House and congressional meetings that followed, and with the incoming Trump team.
Key topics:
• How a Delta Air Lines mechanic with a valid visa was seized on his first afternoon in Kabul
• The interrogator called the engineer, the accusation of being CIA, and the hammering he was told was his gallows
• Two years underground: lights on twenty-four hours a day, cameras on every move, mock executions and buckets of cold water
• The Taliban denied holding him for months; his wife did not know if he was alive
• A year passed before anyone from the U.S. government called, and the caller would not pass a message to his wife
• January 2025: two other Americans go home on the last day of the Biden administration, and he is left behind
• The call his wife got from Jake Sullivan: we were not able to liberate your husband, good luck
• Secretary Marco Rubio's warning to the Taliban, watched from a captive's television in Kabul
• An escape attempt, half a chocolate bar, and the unmarked Airbus out of Kabul
• Adam Boehler on the tarmac, and the last look at a city the Taliban never let him see
• George Taylor on the Biden White House meetings: no one was in charge
• Georgia's senators graded, and the fifteen-minute meetings
• Taylor's account of forty million dollars a month flowing to the Taliban while it held Americans
• The Wall Street Journal story the White House tried to stop
• Watching CNN from captivity, and why Afghan news was more reliable
• October 7, 2023, and a release that never came
• A new White House, and a Starbucks in Canton, Georgia
• Jenny Beth Martin: you cannot have an autopen president
• The White House lawyer who promised to retrieve his body
• Reunited at Andrews, and why terrorists are paying attention to how America votes
Timestamps:
00:00 — Cold open: 835 days a Taliban hostage
01:52 — George Glezmann: aviator, photographer, 135 countries
03:55 — Into Afghanistan with a valid visa, December 2022
05:26 — Seized on his first afternoon in Kabul
09:10 — The engineer: accused of being CIA, a gun at his temple
11:04 — The underground cell and the sound of the gallows
12:12 — A year before anyone from the U.S. government called
14:10 — The Taliban denied holding him; cold water and laser sights
16:14 — Everyone freed except the Americans
18:48 — January 2025: two Americans go home, he stays
21:41 — The Jake Sullivan call: good luck
22:48 — Secretary Rubio's warning, seen from Kabul
24:08 — An escape attempt and half a chocolate bar
26:00 — The unmarked Airbus and Adam Boehler
30:50 — George Taylor: no one was in charge
33:54 — Georgia's senators graded an F
36:28 — Home within two months, not a dollar paid
38:51 — Forty million dollars a month to the Taliban
40:06 — The hostages America never saw
42:37 — Watching CNN from captivity
45:14 — October 7 and the release that never came
46:30 — The Doha call and the forty million dollar question
50:53 — A new White House, and a Starbucks in Canton, Georgia
52:49 — You cannot have an autopen president
55:41 — It matters who we elect
56:34 — We'll retrieve his body
58:45 — Reunited at Andrews
01:00:47 — Terrorists are paying attention to how we vote
01:02:42 — The fifteen-minute meetings
01:06:20 — A mechanic who knows his planes
01:08:34 — Closing: standing in solidarity
Links mentioned:
jennybethshow.com
teapartypatriots.org